WASHINGTON — Earlier this week, Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Texas-republican Ron Paul introduced a bill that would remove marijuana from the list of federal controlled substances and cede to the states enforcement of laws governing pot.

The legislation would eliminate marijuana-specific penalties under federal law, but would maintain a ban on transporting marijuana across state lines. It would allow individuals to grow and sell marijuana in states that make it legal.

Although the bill won't pass the republican-controlled House of Representatives, it did spark a new debate about the issue of marijuana legislation and whether it is indeed time to legalize it.

Some of our readers voiced concern that legalization would fuel the already murderous Mexican drug cartel while others said that ending the ban and moving toward responsible regulation would decrease the problems associated with that portion of the drug trade.

Here is was some of you had to say:

ThisMachineKillsFascists says: Legalizing would shut down the pot cartels, if all states adopted it. It is precisely because it is illegal that there are violent gangs in the business... higher profits follow prohibition. It was the same way in the early thirties before the ban on alcohol was repealed... when you criminalize something, you create criminals.

snookered1 says: legalizing marijuana won't stop drug violence. There is still heroin, cocaine, crack, meth. Not to mention the illegal sales of prescription drugs like oxycontin.

kadeen says: All drugs should be legal. Prohibition doesn't work, it never has. That's how organized crime became so powerful in this country and how the drug cartels so powerful in other countries. All prohibition does is make drugs profitable.

bsgwmass says: I don't smoke weed, but I know some people in important places who do. I also know alcoholics and recovering boozers. Problems for anyone who goes overboard. I do want to bring up the problems of driving and taking hits from the bong...how does law enforcement determine how much weed is enough?

majorityof1 says: The ban on interstate transit is what would keep the drug cartels in business. If this were a legal interstate product, a whole lot of farmers in the Carolinas would be switching to a new cash crop, and the vast legal distribution network of tobacco companies could ramp up to distribute it in extremely short order.

What is your take on the marijuana issue? Chime in below and let us know what you think.